Kouskiya Awarded Fok Presidential Fellowship

Uditnarayan Kouskiya, a PhD candidate, has been awarded the Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship. Prior to joining the department, Kouskiya earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.

Under the guidance of Professor Amit Acharya, Kouskiya is currently delving into the study of microscopic defects' motion within materials, with a keen focus on computational modeling of the equations dictating their movement by employing mathematical duality concepts.

Expressing his gratitude, Kouskiya remarks, “I am sincerely thankful to our department and the Fok family for granting me this invaluable opportunity. I am committed to giving my utmost and demonstrating my worthiness of this recognition.”

The Fok estate generously endowed the department with fellowship and scholarship funds to support CEE students. Thomas Fok earned his civil engineering doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 1956. He subsequently taught at Youngstown State University until 1967 before founding Mosure-Fok Consulting Engineers. By 1976, he chaired his own business, Thomas Fok and Associates